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 Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 8:53 pm
It was late afternoon on the scorching day...little life was around. Most had retired to their homes early from the heat and it was prooving to be a difficult task for Howl to get a meal. Unsatisfied with berries and the three hives she'd destroyed to get their precious honey, the skinwalker moved on...slowly slipping into her crazed, blood deprived mode. If anything it was when she was most terrifying as her simple yet animalistic demeanor faded to that most soquili were aware of...the ruthless and pure evil skinwalkers that roamed the land.
Howl often was not seen amongst her peers as a skinwalker, she was not seen by fellow bears as a bear...and not a soquili by her fellow horses. She was not always a killer, consumed by hate and an bred desire for death and destruction. Thus...not a skinwalker. The bears of the animal kingdom could tell by her scent alone she was not fully a bear and often avoided her at all costs...a few dominant male grizzlies attacking only to sentence themselves to death. Any normal soquili would scream and run as fast as they could at the first sign of a soquili in a pelt...such was the warning of their elders, and the Kawani.
She did not belong anywhere...and thus wandered alone.
Sniffing the air, the brute of a mare paused as she overlooked a large meadow near the mountian's base, she noted a single doe...probably a herd was near by but she was supple enough for a good meal...anything would do now that she was nearing her breaking point. A good, long nap after sounded good too.
Growling softly with a low bear like moan, she lowered herself into the bushes as she quietly moved downwind to the doe to get closer...already her mouth was salivating as she imagined tearing off its juicy flesh bit by bit...
--------------------------------
Deep within the burrow Lon and Iolanthe had called theirs for the daylight hours, the large brute remained half against the wall as he slept peacefully....regaining his strength and allowing his wounds to heal as he rather was enjoying his dreams as evident to the small grin on his maw.
Nightfall wasn't for at least five or so hours and the coolness of the cave was such a welcoming feeling rather than the blazing hot summer day outside.
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 9:32 pm
Something was wrong... very, very wrong. As in, danger-is-here wrong. She didn't know why, but for some odd reason she felt slightly terrified. Just slightly. She was wounded, after all! And, well, she wasn't on top of her game, not to mention she'd have a hard time protecting her boy-toy with this pathetic situation!
Shifting so that she could stand with a lot less effort now, she lifted her nose to the air, trying to see if she could figure out why she felt worried. Well, she smelled deer close by, but she couldn't tell if that meant there was herd or if it was wandering lost one... and then, the smell of both another Soquili mixed with the scent of a bear and... strange. Why would a predator and a prey be mixed in the air together...?
Unless... but no. She was just imagining it... right?
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 9:43 pm
Slowing her steps to a stop between two bushes, the doe could also feel something in the air...ears perked high as she hesitantly continued to nibble on the fresh shoots. She felt as if she was on springs...waiting for something....anything to tell her she needed to run!
Meanwhile, Howl's eyes concentrated hard on the doe....wait for it....wait for it.....unfortunately for the mare the rock she'd had her hoof on slipped creating a crackling noise...instantly the deer took off in a full out bound to get far away from the area as she could.
No...no.
NO! Howl let out a horrible, animalistic, bear roar into the hot evening air...frustrated beyond belief and starving to boot. Already she could feel her muscles ache...her hooves itching to morph into paws and slice through flesh....her mouth suddenly dry for blood....
Food. She needed food now.
Sniffing the air as the winds changed she could smell something close....it was faint but there was enough of it that if she followed closely she would find it. Howl couldn't care if it was a damned porcupine at this point...she'd bare the needles to get flesh....food. Food, food, food, food The single train of thought left the station of her simple mind, beginning her slow walk to sniff out the food around here.
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 10:35 pm
"Lon," Iolanthe whispered, trying to nudge him awake. "Lon, wake up! Something's wrong." She wasn't sure how, but she just knew that if she and Lon didn't get out of there now something more horrible than last night's annoyance was going to happen. The late afternoon was now cooling to early evening, the sun making its way down beyond the horizon. How was he able to keep sleeping through this? This sense of danger was making her skin crawl, and that was saying something!
"Lon," her voice was urgent now, and she was not in the mood to play nice. "Wake up!" she still spoke softly, hoping that whoever that predator was didn't hear her. For the life of her, Iolanthe had never felt this scared for someone else's safety before. She wasn't worried for her own life--for she had never worried about living for the sake of living. She believed that she would one day die, and to die while in battle was the best honor for her. Dying while protecting her "favorite" was also a good way, she figured, but not before she got to play with him thoroughly... and that meant they both had to live.
Deciding perhaps it would be better if she distracted the ominous presence, she left Lon to try and wake up as she made her way as cautiously as possible to the cave's entrance. There, her eyes widened as she perceived the danger she felt. A Skinwalker. No, not here!? Skinwalkers... the epitome of evil. They slaughtered and killed and enjoyed, different from Kalona, who varied in personality to the next regular Soquili. She grit her teeth. The uni-kalona last night was like killing a rabbit as opposed to this Skinwalker. A Skinwalker would be like hunting down a leopard... challenging... very challenging. But if she wanted to protect what was hers, she had to do it.
"You..." she spoke quite low, hoping to catch the female Skinwalker's attention, intending to divert her rampaging path. "What do you want?"
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 11:13 pm
"Mhhnnn.." He growned softly, cursing the high heavens at whatever the hell was trying to wake him. A defiant frown overtook his still sleeping features as he dragged his head to lay back down away from Iolanthe, curling his wings closer to his body as a blanket to fall peacefully into a light sleep. His body clock told him it was not nightfall yet, and thus had no reason to awake from his slumber in the cozy burrow.
----------------
Closer and closer she got to the burrow, the scent strong in the air now as the mare's jaws once more began to drip of saliva...rolling off her lips and teeth like that of a maniac. Her consious nothing but a distant thought she reverted fully to instinct and drive to get her the next meal. Two souls...she could smell them. Almost taste them. Snapping her head to the side at a small noise she laid her sights on the dragoness, her lips curling back into a sinister smirk.
"Food." It was all she said, as the mare rolled her shoulders back to earn a few cracks from tired bones. Licking her lips eerily as her tongue rolled lazily across...her eyes remained focused on the mare....hearing the occasional shuffle from the inside. Shifting her sights, she wondered if the fellow predator's food was inside the burrow...oddly made perfect for a bear!
"Howl...hungry. Eat now..." A low, crazed chuckle erupted from her throat as the transformation began. The strange green flames licking at her tail and hoof burned up her flesh as the bear pelt over her back seemed to come alive, growing and stretching across her frame...which seemed to alter and grow in thickness. Grunting like a bear, the mare soon filled out the frame of a grizzy bear...reaching well over seven ft on her hind paws. Letting out another terrible roar...like a posessed body she approached the mare and the burrow....hunger leading her on like a puppet.
It was then that the dark stallion roused from his slumber, generally disorientated and deprived of his remainding hours of sleep. Grimacing as he had a massive headache, he could have sworn someone had tried to wake him not long ago. Looking over to the side he blinked when he noticed her standing at the enterance, nickering softly as she looked mighty tense.
"Iolanthe....what's going on? Its not..." He yawned, rubbing his tired eyes with his wing, "...night yet. I can't go out..."
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Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 9:51 pm
Iolanthe swore silently as she stared down the skinwalker. Frack!!! I'm still recovering... and I hate to admit it, but this might be harder than last night...! Stiffening even more as she felt Lon stir awake and come up behind her, she managed to speak half-jokingly, half-exasperatedly at him. "I'm sorry, babe, I know you'd prefer it to be much darker, but we're sorta up to our hooves in trouble right now." Iolanthe had spread her wings wide to cover their temporary sleeping cave entrance so that the skinwalker couldn't see Lon, though the dragoness was sure the dark mare could smell him. Iolanthe could see that the mare was more insane than last night's mare... But at least this one provided name, unlike the black unikalona--not that she cared, but if the unikalona ever chose to go after Lon again she'd prefer to know a name so that she could hunt her down.
So... Howl, was it? The mare was hungry... the heavy scent of dark bloodlust was decorating the air, making even Iolanthe want to gag. Now this was probably the shittiest situation she'd ever been in, not counting her meeting with Windflame, which, at the time, she had thought had been probably the worst situation she had been in... but this one definitely made it higher on the list. Frack. "Hungry? Are you saying you can't find food? Sorry, girly, I'm not food, and I certainly--" Iolanthe's eyes widened as she watched the transformation, and found that she was fighting to not quiver in pure fear. The dragoness had never felt fear in this form before... sure, her mother scared her from time to time, but she wasn't the type to scare easily... But this? This was almost a little too much... She pursed her lips. Still, she had something to protect, and she'd protect him with her life, whether he liked it or not.
Snapping her jaws as she bared her fangs menacingly, Iolanthe's nostrils began to show smoke as she prepared her hottest flames. Managing to contain so she could talk, she said, "...If you want food, try your tongue on this!!" With those words, she shot out several fireballs that seemed to veer off in every which direction: some towards Howl, some around the skinwalker, others in the sky. Iolanthe was trying to distract the mare, trying to find an escape route. She wanted Lon out of this cave, but not right now. She was blocking his exit for good reason... she had to lead this mare away, somehow. That mare was not going to eat her prey if she had anything to say about it--or do about it!
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 9:11 am
What the hell is she talking about...? Lon blinked as she was sure acting oddly blocking the way out like that...not like he really wanted to go out in the first place. The sun and him simply did not get along in the slightest, the heat of its rays rose his temperature to near fever levels making him sweat and really get rather sick and useless. Not to mention the same blackness of his pelt made him stick out like a swelled thumb amongst all the bright colours of the day - camoflage was literally imposible to him unless he came upon a burnt forest...even then the grey ash would give him away. "Are you kidding me? I can't go out there...tell whomever they can come in her so I can show them a thing or two about manners..." He teased with a chuckle before poking his head out between her wings and head before freezing, that ominous feeling he'd had in the pit of his stomach since before Raven coming back ten fold.
"A......A......" He breathed, barely, as his breath seemed to have been caught in his throat. Was THAT what he'd sensed so long ago....that they were in skinwalker territory!? Frack frack FRACK! He screamed in his head....they were in no condition to fight a skinwalker, could they even fight one? Iolanthe with her fire was a rather formidable opponent, but that was slightly compromised by her neck wounds. Himself? Sure he had his sheer mass but that was only so effective against teeth and tallon like claws of her Grizzly form. "...Skinwalker!? Why the hell didn't you wake me up!?" He whispered, completely oblivious to her attempts.
Howl stopped for a moment, ears perked as she heard the low murmurings of another...there! As the dark head of the meaty stallion came into her sights, the mare growled hungrily, rolling her large shoulders around as she snapped her jaws in delight. The mare would have served a good meal...but on the stallion there was simply more to enjoy. She'd probably need some of the stallion anyways to satisfy her hunger...but why kill one who wasn't needed to be killed? Perhaps that was her bear nature coming out rather than her skinwalker...but Howl did not mind as long as she got her food.
About to charge, she was paused again by an onslaught of fireballs thrown in her direction. A few hit her pelt and a moment or two of distraction followed as she tossed a heavy paw to snuff the flames...but even as her skin ached and sizzled from the extreme heat her eyes remained on the two.
"Food..." She snarled, before lunging forth in a charge....she'd eat....and she'd eat NOW.
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 2:27 pm
"I don't think you want our "guest" to come in for a visit, Lon." She bantered back half-heartedly, before somewhat frowning at his accusations. A tense, if irritated smile was directed towards Lon as she slowly moved out of the entrance. "Honey, I tried to wake you up if you don't recall, but you didn't wanna wake up--don't put blame on me, now. As for her... do your best to run... because even I can't fight off a skinwalker... much less one like a bear." She grit her teeth, tail waving back in forth in anticipation of a challenging battle. She might be wounded, but that wouldn't stop her from fighting to protect what was hers. She was a dragoness, and dragons do not run from battle, even if it was foolish to fight.
...It was just how her kind were, after all.
Or rather, it was how Iolanthe herself was. She wasn't sure if her sisters and brothers were like her, but it didn't matter. They wouldn't care more (or less) if she disappeared--let alone died. Her mother would probably be irritated to have "lost a potential dragon" to take revenge on her father someday, but that didn't matter. Cynder had two other daughters and two sons. Her mother would figure it out. No matter. She shouldn't be thinking about much--after all, were she to die this day, the only regret would be that she didn't leave enough impression behind. Lon would probably move on--with or without her around--so either way, at least she'd go down fighting protecting what was hers.
Sneering, she snapped her jaws. "Food, eh? Sorry, sister, I'm all scales and bones, barely any meat. Still wanna eat me? Too bad--why don't I fry you first... then gorge on your flesh!" Like the Skinwalker, Iolanthe was, too, a predator, and it didn't bother her in the least to eat another predator--after all, wolves and lions were pretty tasty, and it wasn't new to her--what was new, was battling for her very life as well as battling a skinwalker for the first time. She'd heard of them but... never, in her life, did she ever expect to run into one--but enough of that. "Lon, now is the time for you to leave... I'll keep her occupied. Just do me a favor--survive!!" With her last words, she charged with a dragon's roar towards the skinwalker calling herself Howl.
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 6:57 pm
Well, it was a little too late for appologies as he stood wide eyed in the darkness of the cave. Every single fiber of his being screamed at him to run, self preservation running along side his adrenalin pushing it forth...all but one. Iolanthe... She wanted him to run, and normally he would have jumped at the opportunity...but to let her face the skinwalker alone? Life or no life, he wasn't going to give up on his endeavors to learn about her species so easily....even if it meant heading out in broad daylight. You know...when he mustered up the courage to do so.
Why didn't they both flee? She was in no condition to take on this bear skinwalker, nor was he but at least he didn't have that bad neck wound to worry about. Somehow though, he didn't think it would even be a thought in her mind with their fight last night...if she didn't back down to the Unikalona...even though this was a skinwalker he deemed it to be the same in her mind.
A fight was a fight, no matter the victor one fought to the end. How stupid...to throw away one's precious life for the sake of honor...but he could see how it would be important for a dragoness.
Snapping back as she told him now was the time to leave, he felt that disturbing pit still lodged in his stomach...shouldn't it have gone now that he knew the skinwalker was here? Whatever the case, he really didn't want to just abandon her (shocking, really) but since he'd ******** up the last time because he hesitated...he gulped and squinted his eyes as he stepped out into the sunlight. Taking a guilty glance her way he trotted off in a slow pace, already the sun warming him up....he'd have to go find shelter and fast.
Foolish dragon....Howl smirked, no need for words or retorts as she let out another fierce roar into the afternoon stillness. As she ran towards her, the bear rose to her haunches, pulling back and unleashing a powerful swipe in the direction she ran. Her swipe was mighty slow, it left her open but all the skinwalker needed was one or two hits and that mare would be wishing she'd flown away. It was a pro and a con of being a bear rather than a wolf. While the power was cut in half, they were more swift and agile to deal multiple hits, but couldn't take as much damage. Bears were much better at KO shots, and could take more damage - which they had to since their speed often led them to take that much more damage in a fight too.
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 10:37 pm
She knew that for a pure black stallion such as Lon that coming out into the sunlight--especially in this heat--was bad for him; she knew of several dark-coated Soquili who preferred the night because it was always cooler for them... She instantly knew that Lon himself would be very uncomfortable as well. A dangerous fanged smile formed on her face as she charged towards the skinwalker, only to barely dodge the heavily swung paw, something she knew instinctively to avoid. After all, the mare-turned-bear was quite a few hands taller, definitely much bigger and much stronger. Still, she felt it was better to let at least one of them escape to live, rather than both of them die... Not like she was sacrificing herself or anything. Nope. Not at all!
She was just buying time until Lon could get away... and then, with her speed, she'd be able to take off into the skies as well... and bears were lumbering beasts anyway--whoops! Iolanthe had been thinking too much as she barely dodge another paw, managing to sneak up close and snag a bite before dancing out of reach, but not for long. Because Iolanthe was only so confident, she forgot to keep her guard up a bit more. The skinwalker was slow, yes, but if she didn't watch it she'd be knocked down flat and her noggin wasn't so hard to keep her from falling unconscious... Just as long as he gets away, I don't care. I don't even care about my own personal honor... Not that she'd had any honor to begin with. She was a rather sly kind of creature, in her own way, and she supposed this kind of death was preferable over dying by her mother's fangs...
The sun was certainly taking its precious time settling beyond the horizon, but she knew it was closing into the darkness of evening... how long had it been since this hindrance had appeared? Frack. Really, she was tired of all of these irritating interferences with her prey; well, if she could manage to scare (kill??) off a skinwalker she'd be able to scare off any other too-curious mares from her boy-toy. Even if he didn't like being called that, but he didn't need to know. Lon just needed to live. That's all that mattered. She'd worry about herself later... just as long as he escaped... and lived.
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Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 9:15 am
The stallion managed to get quite a distance from the fight, his breathing laboured as beads of sweat soaked his pelt...it was times like this he wished he was bald as his wings and hair felt so heavy in the sun. Pausing in his step with shaking legs, his eyes closed as he hung his head in a new emotion for him...shame.
During his time alive, he'd done nothing to really call his life meaningful...he'd aquired a vast ammount of knowledge, he'd explored, tried many new things and killed those who really had no chance against a stallion of his size for this information. A day was just a day... and he continued on like that, untill yesterday. He'd laughed, he'd danced....he felt so...so alive! It was such a pleasant change from his mundane existance to be so eager to share the next moment, the next experience with her. She'd fought for him, bled for him....and he'd ran away. Ran away to save his own fracken a** so he could what...breathe for one more day? Who was to say if Iolanthe lost that it would stop the skinwalker from hunting him down...now that she knew his scent?
Gritting his teeth as a few droplets of sweat rolled off his snout, his body radiating with heat as the sun bore down on his back. Turning his head slightly as he looked at the setting sun to the distance, he would have never imagined himself in daylight...yet here he was - pushing all he thought was normal for that dragoness, that mare named Iolanthe. He wanted to know more about dragons, about how she lived her life....in plain...he wanted to know her, period. What made her laugh, what made her cry (could she cry? Had she cried before? He hadn't the slightest idea) what was it that made Iolanthe who she was. He hadn't stopped to realize it, but Iolanthe, the skinwalker, the unikalona....they were all part of the experience, they were a part of his life as he was to theirs....in some worldly discovery....they were his life. All interconnected, all as important as he was.
Iolanthe must have had some idea of this in her own musings, or she wouldn't have called him her 'boy-toy'. Even if he was nothing but a toy to him, being such was infinately better than having never met her at all....or losing her. He'd been lucky yesterday, so very lucky. Lifting his head, his body turned slightly to look back to where he'd came, unable to imagine the battle taking place.
------- <3
Howl snarled in pain as the pesky mare sunk her teeth into her rib cage, jerking away as she'd nearly danced away from her reach. The crimson liquid oozed onto her furry pelt, and that sight seemed to do nothing but enrage the skinwalker more...blood...she needed it, yet it was the mare who was supposed to bleed! Iolanthe was faster, given...yet she hadn't a choice. Kill or be killed, like she in a way she had no qualms about dying...food was everything to her...and life dictated if she didn't get it she'd die anyways.
Curling her body around as hind paws braced her on the ground to allow her to lunge, her paw reached out to try and curl around her forleg, hoping that it would land to pull her prey in...jaws opened out dying to chomp down on that wing of hers. If she couldn't fly away...well, this fight would remain like it should on the ground.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:01 pm
He was gone! Good--she could concentrate on her battle now--and...! s**t! That's what she got for not paying attention to her surroundings. Somehow, the skinwalker had caught her off guard, snagging her leg and then pain laced like lightning through her body as large fangs engorged themselves on her wing, her leg probably sprained as well. "Guh...!" Grunting slightly as she tried to brace herself, blood dripping from her muzzle, Iolanthe struggled viciously. She could sacrifice a wing; but her leg? Not so much. Legs could take you anywhere, so long as you had them--but wings? They were a privilege that Iolanthe treasured, something most Wind Soquili and perhaps even a few Kalona took for granted. Thus, while she treasured them, they weren't all that important to her. At the moment, they weren't really helping her in the least now were they?
Well, no matter. Heat gathered quickly in her throat as she tried to take aim while struggling to force the skinwalker away; it was difficult to ignore the pain while trying to flame the beast, especially since she was pretty much in a death fight. Dammit, why won't you go down!? She managed to turn her neck at an almost painful angle--considering the wound on her neck, as it had opened again and was bleeding profusely--and released the flames that were building in her mouth. Hopefully they would at least shock the damned skinwalker enough to let go of her wing, since she wasn't exactly aiming and was mostly just trying to escape from the stronghold of the bear. Frack! And I hunt bears for snacks! ...Well, this isn't a normal bear either-- "Ugh!!" The strain was almost too much--did that skinwalker intend to completely tear her wing away from her body!?
Blood was everywhere; she had managed to wound the skinwalker, but only by so much; the skinwalker, in turn, had injured her severely... How to get away? If her flame didn't work, it would be difficult to maneuver, especially with one of her legs sprained. Got to think of something... Think! Think! Her mind was coming up blank. If her family saw her now, they'd only laugh in pure glee, mocking her the entire way about losing to a pathetic, stupid-minded predator as a skinwalker... A wry, pained smirk appeared on her face as she wondered over why she bothered to think about them... but they weren't the reason her heart ached... not that she knew why it was hurting to begin with. It didn't matter; she had no regrets--with the exception of Lon--and, at the very least, she would die a warrior, if that fate was so granted to her by the goddess Epona..
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Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 10:21 am
Wobbling slightly on shaking legs the stallion closed his eyes to try and keep his balance in the sun. What a useless hunk of flesh he'd turned out to be. Once part of the high council of gods which created and destoryed in an instance...now some lowlife who ran, who let others do his bidding for him. It never bothered him till now, he knew he had no powers left from the transition; it was part of the deal with the devil. Perhaps these events were planned, trying to kill the retired lord so that his sold soul could be dragged down to hell. He certianly wasn't the kindest of gods...but he didn't quite wish to go there so soon.
Gritting his teeth, the Lord of Nightmares decided to do an act very unlike anything he'd ever done before.
He only hoped the devil was a mare, and that she was one hell of a good dancer.
Taking off in a pure gallop back whence he came, his breathing and core temperature shot up to heights it hadn't been since n the first time he thought it was a good idea to go into daylight. Breathing even more heavily as if he'd just ran a marathon, wings outstretched to allow him more speed through aerodynamics. Live or die, he didn't care anymore...Iolanthe had become more important than his life as in a way he'd become to her. Lon was not a fighter...a killer yes, but he hadn't really taken on anyone with the potential to threaten his own life.
Blood hung thick in the air as he neared, surprised by the distance he'd gotten away in the sunlight. Iolanthe...I'm sorry. He thought in vain, the scent of the blood in the heat of the air, and the temperature nearing critical in his body making him dizzy and nauseous....yet he'd keep going, time was of the essence. Those who I once called brethren...grant me strength.....I accept any and all concequences to my next action....
----------<3
Blood. Glorious, delicious blood.
Howl paused for a moment in euphoric bliss, relishing in the warm sticky liquid as it oozed into her mouth and down her throat as she swallowed hungrily. Even as the mare had struggled she kept her hold strong....so hungry....always so hungry.
Yet in this distracted bliss, she wasn't even paying attention to the flames which built up in Iolanthe's throat...her aim hitting true. Snapping out of her state as the fireball hit her in the side of her head, the flames from the attack licked and burned at her inner ear. Howling in pain as she quickly released and reeled back, her head immediately hit the dirt to snuff out the flames....her ear ringing in pain.
"b***h!" Howl well....howled at the dragon mare, her manic state dissipating while she was left with anger. "Time....to die!" Wasting not a moment, her back legs braced while jaws and arms outstretched in mid lunge...her neck would make a fine main course.
--------<3
The gods may or may not have given him strength, but they certianly threw him into the best and worst time in the battle. Perhaps because of her ear injury she didn't hear him coming, or perhaps she didn't even care...but the brute of a stallion broke through the brush of the surrounding forest and kept his pace. There wasn't time to think, there was only time to act as his eyes laid on the skinwalker going in for what seemed to be the final strike. Blood from both females littered the ground below them, most of it from Iolanthe's re-opened neck wound and the large bite on her wing. Fools always rushed in where even gods feared to tread...so it looked like today, he would be the dunce of the equasion...but that didn't matter.
Lon had no battle cry, or some kind of heroic look to him, but he was a lucky SOB when it came to timing...probably thanks to his constant watch on the moon each night. He lept as soon as he got close enough, wings giving a flap to propell him right into the skinwalker mid air to send them both flying. Thanks to his speed being greater than her own, the skinwalker had spun towards him from the impact...and like any seasoned killer didn't miss a beat when she instead sunk her jaws tightly around his neck. Pupils shrinking in dread at the realization, the pair slammed into the ground as his body was the one skidding across the dirt...her claws sinking into his ribcage and beyond. Luckily for him, if one could call it that, his scarf had enough bulk to keep her from completely collapsing his airway with her tightening grip...but his feverish temperature at the exertion in the hot sunlight leaving him gasping for any kind of air to come into his lungs.
Without any protection on his torso, the claws had punctured his lung as he could slowly feel himself drowning internally. With blurring sight as he choked and sputtered with the air and blood pooling in his mouth, the stallion tried to put up a fight as he tossed his legs up to try and push her off of him but kept missing....who was he kidding...he could barely stay awake let alone try and defend at this point. Iolanthe would have a prime opportunity to cause some serious damage on the skinwalker now that she was occupied with his death....although he figured she wouldn't be pleased that her 'sacrifice' wouldn't be happening...he wasn't going to let her experience it before he damn well got what he wanted.
Yeah...that was it.
[Left wiiiiide open, feel free to inflict a crapload of damage since well....angry dragon > than mellowing skinwalker. XD RAGE ATTACK GO! <3]
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Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 1:56 pm
Everything was in slow motion--or at least, it felt like everything was moving so impossibly slowly. Maybe it was because when she saw Lon take the supposed final hit meant for her, she saw more than red. Perhaps if she had tried harder to wake Lon up and perhaps if she had taken the situation far more seriously than she was already taking it, none of what was happening would happen right now. Perhaps if she had... never mind. Now wasn't really the time to think... but then again, everything was going in slow motion. The skinwalker seemed slower than ever; perhaps it was because she was so angry that her fighting adrenaline just accelerated her even more... she wasn't even concentrating on plotting how to kill the mare... she just... wanted to kill her. Stomp her down. Crunch her to pieces. Torture her bones with non-stop flames. Slash her stomach, her eyes, her ears... rip away her teeth from her disgusting mouth. This mare didn't deserve to live, anyway. Who cares? One less skinwalker for all Soquili to worry about. Yeah, she was (sort of) doing a good deed... maybe. It didn't matter. Lon was close to dying.
He was close to dying.
So close.
But she wouldn't let him get any further than that. No closer. She wasn't done with him. Not yet. Lon still had a lot of things he needed to finish. With her, of course. With her, the mighty dragoness Iolanthe. But not until she was finished with this stupid mongrel of a bear that held an ugly appearance of a skinwalker. Not until that creature--this weird, dead-minded monster--was dead. On her terms. Her aura could almost be seen; it was probably a near visible black, but perhaps that was just anyone's imagination. She was so angry... it was probably the true key needed to release her tightly controlled draconic side.
"Release him. Now."
Her voice was like pure ice. So cold, ringing with barely suppressed fury. She did not move. But if the skinwalker refused to let go, she would move. If the skinwalker let go, but didn't back off, she'd still attack. This mare... she didn't think skinwalkers care about their lives... she herself was still surprised she cared for her own and Lon's lives... but still. Still, she wasn't a skilled warrior for nothing. This skinwalker, and perhaps only one other whose name she would not mention, had given her a challenge worthy enough to pull forth her dragon. The quiet, barely controlled fury... the dark ebony eyes literally black with the rage of a dragon... Why wasn't the skinwalker letting go...?
"You asked for it, skinwalker," she sneered, and then, she let loose.
No longer was her mind thinking. She was going by pure instinct, and her target: the skinwalker. No one messed with her prey like that and got away alive... or at least, lightly wounded. Oh, she would show this skinwalker what it was like to move on instinct, all right. Her attack came almost unexpectedly; fangs glistening in the setting sun as they sunk into the area between neck and shoulder for but a moment. She immediately released, lowering her head at the perfect angle, ready to skewer the skinwalker at any moment. Her tail was like a club as she pulled her head away, feeling that skewering the skinwalker was the wrong choice at the last possible second, swung around to smash the skinwalker's ribcage with as much power as she could, hoping to land a hit--enough to make the skinwalker release her fanged hold. She was going to die by her fangs, her horns, just... the skinwalker was going to die. Or if not, she was going to escape with heavy wounds... very heavy wounds.
"Come on, skinwalker. Is that all you can do?"
She doubted a skinwalker could comprehend her words, but no matter. If a taunt could get through that one-minded thick skull, she was working her way towards success.
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Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:18 am
With eyes rolling back into her head in utter ecstasy, her body quivered in delight as the oozing blood against her mouth sent her into bliss. Blood....delicious blood. Nearly forgetting the world acround her as the ancient inner scratching and howling for this precious life liquid had finally began to settle in her soul, Howl took her time feasting...despite the limited quantity she was getting thanks to that pesky peice of cloth around the stallion's neck. Under the tight grip of her jaws, it excited her to feel his muscles straining to gasp for air...the life slipping away with each failed inhale. This was what it was about, that crutial moment between life and death where adrenalin ran at maximum to result in nothing but a fruitless struggle.
Well, to what she assumed would be fruitless.
The chill that ran cold up her spine as the dragoness' words finally reached her deaf ears were all too late, and before the mare even had time to release her grip on the stallion's neck the sharp jaws of Iolanthe sunk into the crook of her neck, the bear letting out a roar of pain as her own mouth ripped from Lon's. It lasted but a second in time, but the throbbing of her wounded muscle remained strong well after. The instinct slipping away for content, a fight as certianly an unwise choise at the moment, as evident from swinging her paw out to lash at the dragon...only to realize too late of her crouched stance below her swings range.
Grunting in pain, Howl's bear form stumbled back off of the mutant lord, crashing into the dirt as her ribs scratched and sliced the surrounding muscle mass opon the blunt force; breaking a few of the bones. Gritting her jaws together in a vice grip as the bear struggled to her feet, blood dripped from her lips from the internal damage.
Lifting a deathly gaze to the dragon, it lacked that ferocity that it held moments before. Instead a glazed look of fear had begun to shine through the hate, as her eyes glanced around for a split second for an escape route. She had to flee, or she would surely die here today.
Meanwhile, the world continued to blurr in and out for the stallion once the initial pain of her tight jaws ripping its hold from his neck subsided. Luckily his body had begun to take its last defences to keep itself alive as the pain soon became a numb feeling as he lay motionless on the ground, soaking in a sickenly warm pool of his own blood. The Lord of Nightmares, brought down from his godly perch to lay on the ground fading away like some forgotten rat in the bustling streets of two legger cities. Smirking from the irony of it all, he knew the fellow gods were probably laughing themselves to the proverbial grave at his predicament, that he had unknowingly chose this at some point or another when he relinquished his status.
No matter, he wasn't a fool and was well aware of the consequences of the mortals, how life was fleeting and often insignificant in the grand scheme of things. He perhaps never would have imagined meeting that desired fate so soon...
Half lidded golden orbs watched silently as the females clashed like titans before him...and the ferocity of Iolanthe stirred strange feelings in the stallion. Perhaps it was simply the dance of predators....yet was this really what friends would do for one another? His own actions, despite incorrect in his blissful state of denial would never have occured to someone who was just a friend. Lon was without a doubt more selfish and self preserving than that for this life. Yet it was what he would see next which really sent his heart pounding.
Off to the side of the mares, seemingly curiously passing by was the figure of another amongst the trees and foliage....it wouldn't have caught his attention like it had if it was not for what was on its forehead.
Unicorn.
It was a unicorn....it could heal them, or even if one...Iolanthe. Glancing back to the mares with his eyes, he opened his mouth to try and speak, only coming out as a gurgle at first since blood clogged his throat. With a loud hack to spit up the blood as quick as possible and to get her attention, he spoke up in a harsh and dreadful voice which sounded nothing like his own.
"Io...lahn...theeee......Yoou......Uneecorn...." Pushing his head up to motion in the direction of the said unicorn, he knew it would be a hard decision to make.
If she attacked the skinwalker, surely the unicorn would flee from conflict. If she went for the Unicorn the skinwalker would waste no time escaping to kill another day...and he knew the predator in her would definately not enjoy that.
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